


I'll Stay Home For Christmas

by hazelNuts



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M, POV Derek, post senior year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 18:01:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5550080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazelNuts/pseuds/hazelNuts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's going to be Derek's first Christmas in Beacon Hills in years. He knows it won't be easy, but with the help from the pack he's sure it'll be fine. And Stiles, well, Stiles is very eager to make sure that Derek gets infected by the holiday spirit and really stays.</p><p>
  <i>Derek puts his book down when he hears Stiles running up his stairs. He checks his phone to make sure he didn’t miss any calls about an emergency, but there are no messages, no missed calls. He moves to the door to open it for Stiles.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>‘You need to sit down for a minute?’ he teases as Stiles skids to a stop on the landing, then doubles over, panting, trying to catch his breath. Stiles flips him off and uses the wall to push himself upright.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>‘You’re still here,’ Stiles says with wonder. </i>
  <br/>
  <i>‘I said I’d be.’</i>
  <br/>
  <i>‘I just… I had to make sure,’ Stiles admits sheepishly.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Stay Home For Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PencilTrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PencilTrash/gifts).



> If you think I forgot any tags, please let me know in the comments.
> 
> My gift for [Sterek Secret Santa](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/).

Derek puts his book down when he hears Stiles running up his stairs. He checks his phone to make sure he didn’t miss any calls about an emergency, but there are no messages, no missed calls. He moves to the door to open it for Stiles.

‘You need to sit down for a minute?’ he teases as Stiles skids to a stop on the landing, then doubles over, panting, trying to catch his breath. Stiles flips him off and uses the wall to push himself upright.

‘You’re still here,’ Stiles says with wonder.

‘I said I’d be.’

‘I just… I had to make sure,’ Stiles admits sheepishly.

‘I’ll be here for Christmas,’ Derek promises, like he has several times before on the phone. ‘You want to come in?’

Stiles shakes his head. ‘I should go home. Say hi to dad. I’ll call you later.’

Before Derek can say anything else, Stiles is already racing down the stairs.

Stiles came to see him first. Before he saw his dad, before Scott, Stiles came to see _him_. Derek stays by the door, processing the thought. When he finally steps back inside his loft and closes the door, he’s smiling.

He can understand why Stiles wanted to make sure Derek is still in town. The past two years Derek skipped town before the holidays even got close. He hadn’t been able to stay in Beacon Hills yet, not for those couple weeks when his family had been most boisterous, most excitable. Previous years, he hadn’t been sure he could handle the rush of memories and the sting of loss, but this year feels different. He feels more settled, like Beacon Hills is finally becoming home again.

~

The following day Derek’s peace and quiet is once again disturbed by Stiles, except this time it’s eight in the morning and Derek is still asleep. And Stiles isn’t knocking on his door, he’s throwing Derek’s jeans at his head, laughing when Derek wakes up growling, claws extended and eyes flashing, ready for a fight.

‘What are you doing here?’ Derek asks, voice rough from sleep.

‘We’re gonna Christmas this place up,’ Stiles grins. ‘We’re starting with a tree.’

‘No.’

‘You are getting a tree.’

‘I am not sweeping needles off my floor for the next three months.’

‘So we’ll get a small tree,’ Stiles suggest. ‘Please.’

Unable to resist Stiles’ pleading eyes, Derek throws the covers off and slides out of his warm bed. Stiles punches the air in victory.

‘You’re making me coffee,’ Derek grumbles as he passes Stiles on his way to the shower.

They’re in Stiles’ Jeep and on their way to the mall fifteen minutes later, Derek with a thermos of hot coffee between his hands, and Stiles talking about what kind of tree they should get. Leaning back into his seat, Derek relaxes and enjoys the moment. He hugs the warm thermos a little closer, closing his eyes, listening to Stiles talk with his steadily beating heart as background music.

He opens his eyes and raises his eyebrows at Stiles when he’s poked in the thigh.

‘You’re not falling asleep on me are you?’ Stiles asks.

‘Just getting in the spirit of things,’ Derek assures him.

‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I forgot,’ Stiles grins. He fiddles with the dials of the radio and Christmas music fills the car. Stiles bops his head along with the music and taps out the beat of _Santa Baby_ on the steering wheel. ‘This should help with that.’

They find there aren’t many good trees left so close to Christmas. They’re either small or more branch than needle. Stiles suggests they split up, but Derek shakes his head. The memories of picking out a tree with his mom and siblings are starting to overwhelm him and he’s not sure he won’t go running back to the car if he’s left alone. Stiles, thankfully, doesn’t ask any questions and starts dragging after him on his hunt for the right tree. It takes a while, but they find a tree they both like. It’s small, but it’s still green and not too skinny.

They tie the tree to the Jeep and they’re already back in their seats when Derek remembers something. ‘I don’t have any decorations.’

Stiles gasps in shock and nearly falls out of the Jeep in his hurry to get back to the mall. Derek follows him with an amused smile.

Neither of them really has an eye for interior decorating, or any other kind of decorating, so they keep it simple with silver and red decorations, and white Christmas lights.

By the time they’re done it’s almost lunchtime. They find a relatively quiet spot at the food court and sit down to pizza and sodas.

As he takes a bit out of his pizza, Derek can’t help but think it all feels very much like a date.

Before Stiles left for college, they’d talked about their _thing_. Derek would’ve been happy to try long distance, even if Berkeley wasn’t really that far away, but Stiles wanted to,  <i>needed to</i>, wait. He needed to get his head straight after the shitstorm that was senior year. He needed normalcy and his friends. They could talk about changing things when he came home for winter break. Derek understood, he’d needed to the same after Kate had come back, again.

Staying in touch turned out to be easier than he’d expected. Stiles never ran out of things to say, and even their silences, whether it was on the phone or over Skype, had never been uncomfortable.

Those months of relative normalcy had done Stiles good. He’s still sharp around the edges, but also witty, curious and a little too loud. The change hadn’t just been mental, but also physical. Stiles had looked so tired, his face drawn, with dark circles under his eyes, even after a quiet summer, when he’d left. Now, as he’s sitting across from Derek, he looks a little more filled out, his eyes sparkling and not as pale. He still looks like he needs to catch up on sleep, but not in the way that makes Derek think Stiles isn’t sleeping because he’s afraid to, but simply homework and classes that start at ungodly hours.

Stiles suddenly startles, sitting straight up his eyes going wide in shock.

‘We should’ve made a list,’ he grumbles before getting up. ‘You stay here. There’s one last thing we need. I’ll be right back.’

Derek is left staring after Stiles as he weaves his way through the shoppers. When Stiles comes back his cheeks are flushed and a bright grin lights up his face.

‘I had to fight someone for it, but here,’ he says, sliding a neatly wrapped box over to Derek. It’s not very big, barely bigger than his hand. He goes to unwrap but Stiles stops him. ‘You can’t open it until we’re done decorating.’

They finish their lunch, then push their way out of the mall. It’s not easy with all their purchases making them take up three times the space they normally do, and Stiles insisting they get roasted chestnuts for the road.

All the way home, and all the way through decorating, they listen to Christmas songs. Stiles even convinces Derek to sing along to them. When they’re finally done with setting up the tree and placing the blinking Santa Clause in front of the window, Derek opens his present.

It’s a tree topper, a white, silver and red angel, with actual angel hair. It’s small, but it fits the tree perfectly. Stiles cheers when Derek puts it in its rightful place.

Derek looks around the loft. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed this. The pack would be celebrating Christmas at the McCall’s so he hadn’t thought that he needed to decorate his own place. It was just him after all, but Stiles proved him wrong.

~

The next day, around noon, Stiles and Scott show up to play videogames. When, the day after that, Stiles tells Derek he’s taking him to go see the new Star Wars movie with him, Derek’s not even a little surprised. A pattern is starting to emerge.

They’ve already taken their seats and are waiting for the lights to dim when Derek asks, ‘Do you trust me, Stiles?’

‘Of course, I do.’ Stiles looks a little indignant, like he can’t believe Derek would ask such a stupid question.

‘Then can you trust me to be there for Christmas?’

‘I-‘ Even the dim light, Derek can see the blush of embarrassment rushing to Stiles’ cheek. ‘I’m sorry.’

It’s completely instinctive when Derek leans in and buds his head against Stiles’. ‘I like spending time with you. I’d just rather it be because you want to, not because you’re scared I’ll leave the moment you don’t pay attention.’

‘I do!’ Stiles exclaims, a little too loud. He huddles down in his seat when people to their hands to stare questioningly at them. ‘I do like spending time with you. And me being scared you would leave is only, like, twenty percent of the reason I keep showing up.’

‘So, eighty percent is because you like it?’

‘More like seventy.’

‘What’s the other ten?’

‘To distract you.’

For a moment Derek needs to think on what Stiles could be distracting him from, when he realizes that it’s worked. This first Christmas in Beacon Hills is turning out to be a lot easier than he’d anticipated, and much of that is because of Stiles.

He grabs Stiles’ hand, and leans in again to nudge Stiles’ ear with his nose. ‘Thank you.’

‘Anytime, big guy.’ Stiles tangles their fingers a little more tightly together, and with his other hand stuffs his face with popcorn. ‘So, now that is one awkward question out of the way, can I ask another?’

Derek shrugs, it’s not like saying no would stop Stiles. Besides, he’s curious.

‘Can this be a date?’

‘I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to ask that _before_ ,’ Derek points out. At the sight of Stiles’ expectant face, he smiles and says, ‘Yeah. It’s a date.’

‘Awes-‘

Stiles stops talking and takes a shaky breath in as the lights go down. His heartbeat triples and he squeezes Derek’s hand so hard Derek thinks he can feel the bones grind together. When the Star Wars theme begins, Stiles makes a sound that Derek is totally going to tease him about later.

~

When the entire pack is gathered at Derek’s loft the next night for a Christmas movie night, nobody comments on how Stiles is curled into Derek’s side. And when Stiles pulls Derek under the mistletoe when he walks into the McCall house for the pack’s Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, the only sort of comment is a pointed look from the Sheriff.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://fandom-madnessess.tumblr.com/).


End file.
